Leg exercising attachment for invalid&#39;s chair



Sept. 20, 1955 H. w. s. LATEAU ETAL 2,718,396

LEG EXERCISING ATTACHMENT FOR INVALIDS CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 23, 1953 en J 2?.

2L% as 52 5 Pea L Q II I '23 INVENTORJ' HERBERT Al-S. LA-rEAu JSALOME O-MEHAF'FEY BY United States Patent 2,718,396v LEG EXERCISING ATTACHMENT FOR INVALIDS CHAIR Herbert W. S. Lateau and Salome-C. Mehalfey, Chicago, 111.

Application January 23, 1953, Serial No. 332,808 4 Claims. (Cl. 272z-58) This invention relates to leg exercising devices and more particularly to such a device in the form of an attachment for a chair, such as an invalids wheel chair.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved leg exercising device particularly adapted for mobilizing the joints and strengthening the muscles in the legs of an invalid unable to walk for exercise; which can be easily attached to an invalids chair for use and detached and removed from the chair when its use is not required; which can be adjusted in height and in its spacing from the front of the associated chair; which has spring supported foot pedals and means for adjusting the spring load-ing to vary the, force necessary to operate the pedals; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, easy to use, and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the front portion of an invalids wheel chair with a leg exercising attachment illustrative of the invention operatively connected to the chair;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the attachment and fragmentary chair portion illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view 'on an enlarged scale of the attachment;

Figure 4 is a transverse cross sectional view on the. line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 6-6 of Figure 3.

With continued reference to the drawings, the invalids chair, fragmentarily illustrated, has front legs 10 and 11 which are extended upwardly and curved rearwardlyto provide arms 12 and 13 and to which is attached the front end of a frame 14 supporting the seat 15 of the chair and the chair is provided with wheels 16, and 17 journaled on the front legs 10 and 11 respectively, of the chair, for rotation about a common axis which extends transversely of the front end of the chair.

As invalids wheel chairs are well known, a further illustration and description of the chair itself is considered unnecessary particularly, as the attachment may be used in conjunction with different kinds of chairs including chairs not provided with wheels.

The leg exercising attachment has a frame, generally indicated at 20, including a lower -frame portion and an upper frame portion. The lower portion of the frame 20 includes four tubular legs 21, 22, 23 and 24, rigidly held in spaced apart and substantially parallel relationship to each other by lower frame side members and 26 extending between the legs 21 and 23 respectively, and between the legs 22 and 24 respectively, and lower frame end members 27 and 28 extending between the legs 21 and 22 and between the legs 23 and 24 respectively. The side members 25 and 26 and the corresponding end members 27 and 28 are arranged in a rectangular shape and the tubular legs are disposed, one at each corner 2,718,396 Pat nted Sep .2 1 55 2 of the. rectangular lower frame portion and are supported at their lower ends on a suitable, horizontal supporting surface, such as a floor, to extend vertically upwardly from the floor and place the side and end members of the lower frame portion substantially in ho izontal position.

Each of the legs 21 to 24 inclusive has on its lower enda cap 30 of resilient material, such as rubb.er,,el,osing the lower end .of the corresponding leg and providing a resilient pad for the floor supported lower end of the leg, and has at its upper end an external screw thread fo mation 1- Gland nuts, as indicated at 32, are threaded one onto each leg at the upper ends of the legs, and annular pack ing members, as indicated at 33, of resilient material, are cl se one n e c f he g and nuts .32 and ar compressed. when the corresponding gland nuts are threaded down on th so i leg for a purpose which will p s tlyapp ar- Th upper fram p r i n compri es a pa r o vLJ- l1ar i memb rs 35 and ach having spa ed par nd no s an ially pa al l gs and a str igh gh or int mediate. portion disposed at an obtuse angle to one of the, legs d at n acu e ngl to h o e l g, ha the intermedia e porti n of th u-shape memb r 35 and, 36 are. incli d ela ive o he horizon l. and he u-shaped. member re s re oget r in a m nner s ch. tha their intermediate portions are both inclined in the same re ti n. A longi u nal fram memb r r bar 7 n s. be ween n is cur d to h l gs f. th -shaned member an 36 h g s me angular re a ionsh ps t h orre po g nt m a e p rti n near h nds of the l g adja ent h or spond ng in e mediat portions, and a similar longitudinal bar or member 38,, extends between and is secured to. the legs of th U-shaped members having obtuse angular relationships to the cor. e p n in e m a e po o s. of he U- hared members, near the ends of the corresponding legs connected to h n erm te po t o f h U- hap m m ers. n he r e a 3 d 3 ol he U- aped membars '35 and 36 substantially parallel to each other. The upper frame portion thus has four spaced apart and sub: stantially parallel legs, as indicated at 40, 41, 42 and 43 and these legs are slidably received respectively in the upper ends of the lower frame portion legs 21, 22, 23 and In order to adjust the height of the frame, the gland nuts 32 are loosened, decompressing the corresponding packings 33, the upper frame portion is then raised or lowered relative to the lower frame portion to provide the desired height of the frame, and the gland nuts are then retightened to compress the corresponding packings into frictional engagement with .the associated upper frame portion legs to frictionally hold each leg of theupper frame portion in the selected position of adjustment longitudinally of the corresponding lower frame portion leg.

Flat plates 45 and 46. extend between and are secured at their ends to. the longitudinal members 37 and 38 of the upper frame portion at locations spaced apart relative to each other and spaced from the adjacent U-shaped members 35 and 36, as illustrated in Figure 3. These, plates 45 and 46 are disposed substantially in a plane which includes the longitudinal center lines of the frame members 37 and 38 and is inclined relative to the horizontal, and guide sleeves 47 and 48 extend through the frame bar 37 at locations medial of the width of the plates 45 and 46 respectively, with their longitudinal center lines disposed substantially perpendicular to the plane of these plates. Similar guide sleeves 50 and 51 extend through the frame bar 38 of the upper frame portion medially of the width of the plates 45 and 46 respectively,

and are also disposed with their longitudinal center lines substantially perpendicular to the plane of these plates. Flat foot pedals 52 and 53 are disposed above the plates 45 and 46 respectively, and guide rods 54 and 55 extend perpendicularly from the under side of the pedal 52, one near each end of the pedal, and the guide rod 54 extends slidably through the guide sleeve 50, while the guide rod 55 extends slidably through the guide sleeve 47.

A compression spring 56 is disposed between the plate 45 and the foot pedal 52 and resiliently urges the foot pedal away from the plate. Nuts 57 and 58 are threaded onto the guide rods 54 and 55 respectively, at the lower ends of the guide sleeves 50 and 47, and limit the movement of the pedal 52 away from the plate 45 by the spring 56.

Guide rods 60 and 61 extend perpendicularly from the under side of the foot pedal 53, one near each end of this foot pedal, and the guide rods 60 and 61 are slidably received in the guide sleeves 51 and 48 respectively. A coiled compression spring 62 is disposed between the plate 46 and the pedal or tread 53 and resiliently urges the pedal away from the associated plate, movement of the pedal away from the plate by the spring 62 being limited by nuts, corresponding to the nuts 57 and 58, threaded onto the guide rods 60 and 61 at the lower ends of the guide sleeves 51 and 48. The nuts on the lower ends of the guide rods can be threaded along the corresponding guide rods to hold the foot pedals 52 and 53 at different selected distances from the corresponding plates 45 and 46 and thus vary the loading on the compression springs 56 and 62, so that the force applied to the pedals to compress the springs can be varied.

An adjustable length link 64 is hingedly connected at one end to the front leg 22 of the lower frame near the upper end of this lower frame leg and extends rearwardly past the adjacent rear leg 21 of the lower frame and is provided at its other end with a hook formation 65 which hooks around the corresponding front leg of the associated chair. A similar adjustable length link 66 is hingedly connected at one end to the other front leg 24 of the lower frame portion and extends rearwardly past the corresponding rear leg 23 being provided at its end remote from the frame leg 24 with a hook formation 67 which hooks around the front leg 11 of the associated chair. A tension spring 68 is connected between the links 64 and 66 rearwardly of the attachment frame and resiliently pulls the hook carrying ends of the links toward each other to maintain the links in engagement with the front legs of the chair and the links 64 and 66 can be adjusted in length to vary the spacing of the attachment from the front of the chair.

Heel supports 69 and 69' extend around the lower, rear end portions of the pedal plates 52 and 53 to hold the feet of a person using the exercising device on the pedal plates and a handle shaft 70 is secured at one end to the front side rail 37 of the upper frame portion at the mid-length location of this side rail, and is extended upwardly and rearwardly toward the chair, the upper rearward end of this handle shaft being provided with a handle grip 71, so that a person seated in the chair can grasp this handle while using the foot pedals 52 and 53 for exercise and use the handle to assist in applying foot pressure to the pedals. Pressure can be applied to each foot pedal with the entire foot or by the heel and toe portion of the foot independently to exercise dilferent muscles in the feet and legs and either pedal can be used independently of the other, if desired.

- The attachment can be easily connected to an associated chair by merely forcing the hook carrying ends of the links 64 and 66 apart and engaging the hooks around the front legs of the chair and can be detached from the chair in a similar manner. The device is of sufliciently lightweight, that when detached from the chair, an attendant can grasp the handle shaft 70 and carry the attachment to a suitable storage location.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a leg exercising device, a frame having floor engaging leg means for nonrocking support of the frame on a floor, said frame comprising spaced transverse cross members disposed at different elevations, a pair of plates secured at their ends to and extending between said cross members, said plates being spaced from each other along the cross members, a pedal overlying and spaced above each plate, plunger rods fixed to and depending from the pedals, vertical guides on said cross members with which the plunger rods are slidably engaged, and compression springs engaged between the pedals and the related plates.

2. In a leg exercising device, a frame having transversely spaced legs, longitudinally adjustable links having one end thereof secured individually to the frame legs and having other ends having hooks engageable with legs of a chair, contractile spring means secured to and stretched between said links for maintaining engagement of the hooks with legs of a chair, and resiliently yieldably mounted pedals on said frame.

3. In a leg exercising device, a frame having floor engaging leg means for nonrocking support of the frame on a floor, said frame comprising spaced transverse cross members disposed at different elevations, a pair of plates secured at their ends to and extending between said cross members, said plates being spaced from each other along the cross members, a pedal overlying and spaced above each plate, plunger rods fixed to and depending from the pedals, vertical guides on said cross members with which the plunger rods are slidably engaged, and compression springs engaged between the pedals and the related plates, said guide comprising tubes through which the plunger rods extend, said rods having threaded lower ends, and nuts on said threaded lower ends, said tubes having lower ends against which the nuts bear, the nuts being rotatable in opposite directions to increase and relax the tension of said springs.

4. In a leg exerciser, a frame comprising a lower floor engaging section and an upper section, said lower section having vertical tubular legs having open upper ends,

said upper section having vertical legs slidably engaged in the legs of the lower section through the open upper ends of the lower section legs, means spacing and connecting the legs of the upper section including spaced transverse cross members, depressible pedals resiliently mounted on said cross members, and locking means associated with the legs of the upper and lower sections for locking the upper section at a selected height relative to the lower section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,509,793 Thompson Sept. 23, 1924 1,671,096 Anderson May 29, 1928 1,911,390 Pullman May 30, 1933 1,964,193 Burnett June 26, 1934 2,209,034 Paul July 23, 1940 2,374,730 Catlin May 1, 1945 2,388,777 Wentz Nov. 13, 1945 2,646,282 Ringman July 21, 1953 2,659,087 Skaggs Nov. 17, 1953 2,668,709 Boyko Feb. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 616,823 France Nov. 6, 1926 

